Vol. 2 Chapter 20: Slow Travelling Live Exercise

A river of two meter width appeared before us. This meant that there weren’t any problems with my sense of direction, and this piece of map that only marked the locations of rivers.

Although the river was flowing quite fast, its water was pure and clear, as I could clearly see a fish swimming at the bottom of the river.

I placed my hand into the river, and the water was cooling enough to refresh my spirits.

“I can’t do this anymore, I’m about to tire to death!”

Just when I was enjoying the beauty of nature, I could hear a disheartening voice coming from behind me. I helplessly turned to look, and I could see Shir leaning against the nearby tree, with a dying expression on his face.

Just how bad is his stamina, geez… Does this guy actually spend all his time studying at home?

“Come on, we walked all the way here, you know? It’s not like we were running.”

“In the past… The longest time… I spent walking… was only… an hour. I never had to… walk this much before.”

He replied me as he tried to catch his breath.

Eh… Geez… Should I drop a tsukkomi about his pampered life as a noble or his overly serious attitude towards studying?

Although my stamina did improve since I came to this world, however, even though I spent most of my time at home in my former world, walking for 4 or 5 hours continuously still wouldn’t pose a problem. This guy was already this tired after walking for only 3 hours, isn’t he a little too weak?

“Oh well. Since we managed to accomplish our first goal, let’s take a small break. After this, as long as we follow this stream upwards, then we should be able to reach that suspicious place.”

Although I confidently said it as such, but, in actual fact, I was still doubting my own judgment.

That suspicious place is worth to take a look, however, in actual fact, normal people would not be able to think of it, right? And there’s only one of such location, and it’s impossible for all the Crystal Hearts to be placed there. Or else, it would definitely diminish the chances for the students to succeed in this live exercise.

And for groups with a large number of members, their biggest problem was to distribute the Crystal Balls. If the group is not able to obtain the minimum amount of Crystal Balls needed at the end of the exercise, then they will definitely be caught in a dilemma.

And the participants in this live exercise comprised mostly of nobles. They would definitely compete among themselves for the Crystal Balls. After competing in strength, they would then compete with their social ranks. I don’t really want to land myself in such a troublesome situation.

That was also why I tried to avoid encountering the other teams.

That’s right. I have been constantly looking out for names around us during our journey. When I saw names in a specific direction, we would take a detour around. Of course, if the other teams were to use Wood-type or Earth-type magic to hide their presences, then there’s nothing much I could do about it.

However, the teacher that was in-charge of our team was really following us quite openly. He wasn’t even using any skills or magic to hide his presence.

Several times along the journey, I turned to take a look, and he probably realized that I already noticed him. Thereafter, in the last hour, he did not even bother hiding behind the trees, and was just walking behind us.

Currently, he was sitting under a tree that 5 meters away from us, and was staring blankly at his own magic staff.

I have this urge to go over and greet him, however, I restrained myself. After all, originally, he was supposed to follow us secretly. If I expose him now, he would definitely feel embarrassed.

Earlier, Shir realized his existence, and was wondering why he was not following us secretly as well. However, I told him it’s best to ignore his presence.

Hence, he did as he was told.

“Since we’re taking a break, let’s take this time to eat something~ I prepared a lot of food, you know~”

Shir suddenly said. Just as I redirected my line of sight to him, I saw him summoning desserts.

That’s right, desserts! And they seem to be extremely delicious! Every layer of the cake was topped with fruits and cream, and he had several types of chocolates lined up.

The sight of this was enough to rouse up anyone’s appetite, however, what I really want to know is…

Oh my god! Just where did this guy take these things out from!?

After he handed me the layered cake, he started taking out various other items.

Desserts, snacks, and thermos flasks… Is this guy trying to start a tea party here?

Everyone else is giving their all to search for items, and you’re actually having a tea party!? What’s with that attitude!

Speaking of which, this guy is a noble as well, so it was normal for him to have a ring that could store items. Although I received one when I came to this world, and it even has a disguise function, however, so as to hide the existence of this special ring, I bought another cheap dimensional storage ring. And I stored some clothes and potions in it as well.

Hence, even if it was stolen, I would only lose a little. After all, there’s nothing in this world that could help identify the items’ owners. However…

This is still my first time encountering someone that would actually store an entire set of desserts in his ring. Just how crazily rich is this guy!?

“We’re only resting for a few minutes, so why did you start a tea party… And since you stored such things in your ring, what about your other necessities?”

“Don’t worry, I have another ring for those~”

He happily replied. It seems this guy really likes to have tea and desserts… This is actually my first time seeing a boy behave like this.

Eh… Oh well, anything goes, I guess. After all, this cake does indeed look very delicious.

“Mmm, not bad… this cake is quite good. However, after finishing these up, we should press forward, or else we will take forever to reach our destination.

“Eh~ Aren’t we having a three-hours long break?”

He looked at me with sad-looking eyes… What’s with this expression!? Why is he trying to pass me off as the bad guy!?

Why does a boy has such a little kitten-like expression? And why is it so effective!?

“I didn’t say it was three-hours long… Don’t look at me like that…”

However, it seems that this guy doesn’t have the intention of forgiving me… Scary! Does this guy actually have a technique that can attack my mind!?

“Alright… alright! We will rest for two hours, that will be enough, right!? And looking at this distance, we have to at least walk for another 20 hours. We’re not going to make it if we spend too much time resting.”

“Right, I understand! Then we will rest for 2 hours. Want some tea?”

“…Of course.”

I can’t help it. The cake’s sweetness took control of my mind…

After receiving the cup of tea, I felt someone walking to us from my back. I turned around, and the teacher who was sitting under the tree earlier was actually standing beside Shir.

“Do you mind if I have a cup as well? Sorry, I forgot to bring my water supplies down from the airship.”

…

“Sure, no problem.”

Shir kept his smile as he replied.

“Hey hey, aren’t you supposed to be a teacher in-charge of our surveillance? Are you sure it’s fine to walk over and have tea with us?”

As he was constantly wearing his hood earlier, I was not able to see them clearly, but I could finally have a full view of his facial features.

Deep green hair, with the same eye color. He did not have any wrinkles on his face, and his lips were showing a slight sinister smile.

Although this teacher was only slightly older than us, however, just like the department head from earlier, everything about him was in question marks.

“No problem, no problem. As long as I do not help you guys in any way, then it’s not against the rules. In fact, you guys already realized my presence since a few hours ago, right? Why didn’t you come over and have a chat?”

“What’s there to talk about with three men…”

“Three… I see, well, that’s fine, I guess. Don’t worry, chatting with me is not really against the rules. I memorized all the rules and regulations in this school, so anything that isn’t breaking the rules is legal in my books. That’s what I think, how about you?”

This guy… Why do I feel that he has an aura of a hoodlum…

“Oh right, Fir and Shir, although I know both of your names, you guys shouldn’t know of mine, right? My name’s Landur Bruklis, and a teacher of the Advanced-Grade Wind Magic Class, I look forward to working with you two.”

Looks like this guy is telling the truth. The moment he was done speaking, some of his information was revealed.

A trap is a man who dresses or looks abnormally much like a woman. He is thus a trap for other men who might chase him to get in his pants. A reverse trap is the opposite, where a woman looks like a man and thus is trap for other women who might chase her to get a piece of her imaginary “junk”.

They are referring to right before Landur introduced him-/herself to Fir and Shir, saying “Three… I see, well, that’s fine, I guess.”